Strangely I have noticed that when I rub spots of mud off my climbing shoes prior to starting a route on limesone, not only does the rubbing of the damp and abrasive mud "tack up" my shoes beautifully, when i rub the excess from my hands off on my trousers, leaving my hands slightly dirty, they're really quite grippy and I rarely need chalk. Totally eco-friendly

In reply to BolderLicious: Personally I've never used chalk and never will. I've always been happy to rely on nothing more than my own bare hands and fingertips. Anyway in answer to your question, I know someone who uses thin rubber gloves for climbing, he swears by them but I think this is definitely getting into the realms of "cheating".

> (In reply to BolderLicious)
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> Try going without chalk - i never need it and i think a lot of people would be surprised at how unnecessary the stuff actually is

Agree 100%. I've never used it and never will. I think the benefits are largely psychological and a lot of climbers develop a mental dependency on it to the point that they feel they can't climb without it. I been out with people who haven't wanted to climb when they've forgotten their chalkbag. Ridiculous.

In reply to BolderLicious: do French people not use some sort of resin/sap on bouldering routes ? I don't tend to use chalk outdoors find I get on without it fine. But indoors I use chalk a lot so go figure.

In reply to BolderLicious: I was thinking the other day about using double sided sticky tape on boots for key moves. Have a bit ready, reach down before the key move, stick it to your boot, then rub it off again.

Not ethical as it would leave residue on the rock, but I reckon it would help.

In reply to BolderLicious:
The french use something referred to as "pof" it is a kind of soft resin that is very sticky - it leaves a really nasty residue on the rock that quickly turns to a polished hard sheen that is very hard to brush off.
Chalk isn't used because it is "sticky" which rather negates your post and all of the replies IMO. It is used in order to dry the hands which are inevitably a bit sweaty and therefore slippery.
To those who are advocating not using chalk at all I have to agree to an extent, certainly on many routes or problems (particularly on easy ones) it really isn't necessary and I find it really funny when people chalk up to do their juggy warm up traverses indoors however I must admit I find it helps on harder stuff.

To the OP surely the answer is to work on getting stronger fingers than finding was of making your hands more sticky or are you planning on becoming the next spiderman?